This is Chrysolas.

Part 8

Logistics.

War I realized was purely about logistics.

The more I thought about it,

the more I examined the information I had gleaned from the space ports of conquered worlds,

the shipping manifests and flight plans,

the contents of downed cargo vessels,

the more I realized it was true.

It felt wrong to put logistics before critical issues such as strategy, reconnaissance, and personnel.

The word itself, logistics, sounded dry and machine-like.

A word belonging to the quarterly finance report of a grey corporation,

one whose employees wore uniforms and wear accountants ruled from behind cryptic ledgers.

A word that felt out of place on a battlefield,

and a front to humanity's long history of visionary military leadership,

and yet it was true.

At first, when I left Earth,

I had considered myself one of those noble leaders,

a general in command of an army of drones,

recurring to subterfugian wits to best my enemies.

The trap I had laid in the asteroid belt was a good example of that.

I was carrying the torch, following in the footsteps of Sunsu and Alexander the Great,

...